Aug 24 (Reuters) - Apple Inc's share of China'ssmartphone market almost halved to 10 percent in the secondquarter as buyers waited for the next iPhone model - expectedlater this year - or switched brands, data from industryresearch firm IDC showed on Friday.

Smartphone shipments in China overtook feature phones forthe first time in April-June, with domestic vendor Lenovo GroupLtd knocking Apple from second place in the world'slargest mobile market, the data showed.

"There are two things in play," said IDC analyst TZ Wong,referring to Apple's drop in ranking and market share.

"One is seasonal, people know the new phone is coming. Andthe second is that the alternatives are becoming much moreattractive than a year ago. The iPhone didn't change much overthe year."

Lenovo, the world's No.2 vendor of personal computers whichmakes the LePhone, took 11 percent market share in China in thesecond quarter, up from a single-digit percentage in the firstquarter when it was ranked 7th, the data showed.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd retained its lead in the Chinese smartphone market with a shareof around 16 percent, little changed from the first quarter.

Apple slipped to fourth position, with China's ZTE Corp in third and local rival HuaweiTechnologies Co Ltd fifth.

Global handset vendors, such as Samsung and Nokia Oyj, have been chasing increased market share in China,where there are more than 1 billion mobile subscribers. China isset to overtake the United States as the world's largestsmartphone market this year.

Demand for smartphones is being fuelled by a combination ofgenerous handset subsidies by China's three telecom carriers, agrowing technology awareness among Chinese consumers and morefeature-packed and affordable products.